Violence to Animals in Film: May 2015

Heads Up, Ears Down

This blog accurately identifies depictions of violence and cruelty toward animals in films. The purpose is to provide viewers with a reliable guide so that such depictions do not come as unwelcome surprises. Films will be accurately notated, providing a time cue for each incident along with a concise description of the scene and perhaps relevant context surrounding the incident. In order to serve as a useful reference tool, films having no depictions of violence to animals will be included, with an indication that there are no such scenes. This is confirmation that the films have been watched with the stated purpose in mind.

Note that the word depictions figures prominently in the objective. It is a travesty that discussions about cruelty in film usually are derailed by the largely unrelated assertion that no animals really were hurt (true only in some films, dependent upon many factors), and that all this concern is just over a simulation. Not the point, whether true or false. We do not smugly dismiss depictions of five-year-olds being raped because those scenes are only simulations. No, we are appalled that such images are even staged, and we are appropriately horrified that the notion now has been planted into the minds of the weak and cruel.

Depictions of violence or harm to animals are assessed in keeping with our dominant culture, with physical abuse, harmful neglect, and similar mistreatment serving as a base line. This blog does not address extended issues of animal welfare, and as such does not identify scenes of people eating meat or mules pulling plows. The goal is to itemize images that might cause a disturbance in a compassionate household.

These notes provide a heads-up but do not necessarily discourage watching a film because of depicted cruelty. Consuming a piece of art does not make you a supporter of the ideas presented. Your ethical self is created by your public rhetoric and your private actions, not by your willingness to sit through a filmed act of violence.

Purple Noon

Purple Noon (Plein soleil). René Clément, 1960.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #637, released 2012. French and Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 119 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

A Pure Formality

A Pure Formality (Una pura formalità). Giuseppe Tornatore, 1994.

😸

Edition screened: Cinema Club DVD, released 2004. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 108 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence toward animals.

Punch-Drunk Love

Punch-Drunk Love. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

The Criterion release also contains Blossoms & Blood a short reworking of Punch-Drunk Love featuring art by Jeremy Blake.

The Public Enemy

The Public Enemy. William A. Wellman, 1931.

😿

Edition screened: Included in Warner Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Classics Blu-ray set, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 83 minutes.

Summary: Killing of a horse.

Details: James Cagney and Edward Woods enter the stall of a horse that threw their friend. At 1:04:04 we hear several gun shots followed by a thud. No violence is depicted visually.

Public Enemies

Public Enemies. Michael Mann, 2009.

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Edition screened: Universal Blu-ray, released 2009. English language. Runtime approximately 143 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Psycho

Psycho. Alfred Hitchcock, 1960.

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Edition screened: Included in Universal Blu-ray box set Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 109 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Prometheus

Prometheus. Ridley Scott, 2012.

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Edition screened: 20th Century Fox Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 125 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

As with all Man vs. Monster films, the monsters are killed in often horrible ways. This is part of the fictional genre and is unrelated to the inexcusable brutality shown to real animals in real life.

Prohibition

Prohibition. Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, 2011.

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Edition screened: PBS Blu-ray set, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 360 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Process Red

Process Red. Hollis Frampton, 1966.

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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #607 A Hollis Frampton Odyssey, released 2012. Silent. Runtime approximately 3 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Prizzi’s Honor

Prizzi’s Honor. John Huston, 1985.

😸

Edition screened: Anchor Bay DVD, released 1999. English language. Runtime approximately 129 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann

The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann. Radley Metzger as Henry Paris, 1974.

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Edition screened: Distribpix 2-DVD Collector’s Edition, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 83 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 4/5❤

The Distribpix release includes various alternate versions of the feature, deleted scenes, and the two featurettes Metzger’s Manhattan and The Locations of Pamela Mann.

The Prisoner of Shark Island

The Prisoner of Shark Island. John Ford, 1936.

😸

Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema DVD #22, released 2006. English language. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

This enjoyable film provides a fictionalized account of the imprisonment of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who unknowingly aided John Wilkes Booth on the night of Lincoln’s assassination.

The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride. Rob Reiner, 1987.

😿😿

Edition screened: MGM ‘25^th Anniversary Edition’ Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.

Summary: Defensive killing of fantasy animals.

Details:
1) A giant Shrieking Eel about to attack Princess Buttercup is clubbed, 12:59.
2) An attacking Rodent of Unusual Size is engaged in combat at 46:28, burned on a flash pot at 47:38, and killed by sword at 47:55.

Prince of Darkness

Prince of Darkness. John Carpenter, 1987.

😿

Edition screened: Universal DVD, released 2003. English language. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.

Summary: Animal sacrifice.

Details: A crucified pigeon is found, 35:08-35:25. The depiction is not elaborate or gory.

Priceless

Priceless (Hors de prix). Pierre Salvadori, 2006.

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Edition screened: First Look DVD, released 2008. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 111 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Premiers Désirs

Premiers Désirs. David Hamilton, 1983.

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Edition screened: Arrow DVD, released 2006. English dub is the only playback option. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 1/5🍸

Precautions Against Fanatics

Precautions Against Fanatics (Massnahmen gegen Fanatiker). Werner Herzog, 1969.

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Edition screened: Included in BFI The Werner Herzog Collection Blu-ray box set, released 2014. German language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 11 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A Prairie Home Companion

A Prairie Home Companion. Robert Altman, 2006.

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Edition screened: New Line DVD, released 2006. English language with quite a lot of singing. Runtime approximately 106 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Post tenebras lux

Post tenebras lux (After darkness light). Carlos Reygadas, 2012.

😿😿😿

Edition screened: Drakes Avenue Blu-ray, released 2013. Spanish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 115 minutes.

Summary: Violent abuse of a dog.

Details:

1) A dog is held down and viciously beaten 21:18-22:00. The actual impacts are below the frame, but the violence and audio portion are brutal.

2) Two dogs are fighting at 46:58, and a man kicks one of them away at 47:01.

3) We hear a dog yelp as it is hit by a pickup truck, 1:36:05.

Possession

Possession. Andrzej Żuławski, 1981.

😿

Edition screened: Second Sight Blu-ray, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 123 minutes.

Summary: Depiction of a dead dog.

Details: Beginning at 1:51:35 is a 2-second image of a dead dog floating in a river.

This remarkable, almost unbelievable, film remains free of violence to animals until near the end, when the dead dog is pointed out to protagonist Sam Neil. The dog is meant as a threat and references Neil’s earlier recollection of being with a dog when it died.

Possessed

😸
Possessed. Curtis Bernhardt, 1947.

Edition screened: Warner DVD, released 2005. English language. Runtime approximately 108 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

@ BL

La Poison

La Poison. Sacha Guitry, 1951

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Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #48, released 2012. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 87 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Point Blank

Point Blank. John Boorman, 1967.

😸

Edition screened: Warner DVD, released 2005. English language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

@ BL

Pleasures of the Flesh

Pleasures of the Flesh (Etsuraku). Nagisa Ôshima, 1965.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Eclipse Series 21: Ôshima’s Outlaw Sixties 5-DVD set, released 2010. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Le Plaisir

Le Plaisir. Max Ophüls, 1952.

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Edition screened: Criterion DVD #444, released 2008. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Le Plaisir is comprised of three shorter films: Le Masque, La Maison Tellier, and Le Modèle.

Pit Stop

Pit Stop. Jack Hill, 1969.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Pit Stop is a high mark in drive-in cinema, not deserving of any hyphenated ’sploitation or ‘B’ designation. Well conceived and directed, good acting, great music and racing scenes, 90 minutes of fun and excitement. The supplemental material is very good as well, especially the interview with director Jack Hill.

La Piscine

La Piscine. Jacques Deray, 1968.

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Edition screened: Park Circus Blu-ray, released 2011. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 113 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Pirates of Bubuan

The Pirates of Bubuan (Bubuan no kaizoku). Shôhei Imamura, 1972.

😿

Edition screened: Included in the Icarus 4-DVD set A Man Vanishes, released 2012. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 46 minutes.

Summary: Mild scenes of fishing and fish cleaning.

Details:

1) A woman cuts up fish in preparation for cooking, 17:07-17:19.

2) Men fish for squid, 22:28-23:28.

3) More preparation of fish for cooking, 26:26-26:31.

4) Caught fish brought to market for selling, 29:15-30:19.

This is a documentary about island peasants struggling for survival, who catch fish to supplement their primary staple of processed vegetable starch. It is not a documentary about smug Americans with GPS units and designer sunglasses killing fish for fun, and therefore is not particularly offensive.

Pieta

Pieta. Kim Ki-duk, 2012.

😿😿😿

Edition screened: Image/Drafthouse Blu-ray, released 2013. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 104 minutes.

Summary: Recurring butchering and rough handling

Details:

1) A chicken is handled roughly, 9:34-10:34. Later her beheaded and plucked carcass is seen overhanging a small cooking pot, 10:38-10:50.

2) A live eel in a clear plastic bag is dropped at an entranceway, 22:00. It escapes the bag and flops down the cement steps through 22:32.

3) A rabbit is abducted from its clean cage in an old lady’s apartment and carried away by the ears, 26:55-27:00.

4) The rabbit is turned loose in the city streets at 38:30, and at 38:44 we see and hear the vehicle depicted as hitting him on the road, but do not actually see the killing or the dead rabbit.

5) The eel from the previous scene, revealed to have been put in a shallow aquarium, now is pulled out, strangled, and decapitated, 38:55-39:04.

Pierrot le fou

Pierrot le fou. Jean-Luc Godard, 1965.

😿

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #421, released 2009. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 110 minutes.

Summary: Very brief depiction of a speared fish.

Details: A three-second shot beginning at 45:22 of Anna Karina walking happily along a beach with an orange fish impaled on a trident. There is no depicted struggle, and the whole prop actually could be a 1960s beach toy. This is a great film, and there is minimal upset over this quick scene.

The Criterion release also contains Jean-Pierre Gorin’s 36-minute A Pierrot Primer, a Beat poetry parsing and explication of the first 20 minutes of Pierrot le Fou. The Gorin short is an enjoyable viewing experience that illuminates not just the title film, but the entire idea of fine filmmaking.

Pickpocket

Pickpocket. Robert Bresson, 1959.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion DVD #314, released 2005. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 76 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Piccadilly

Piccadilly. E.A. Dupont, 1929.

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Edition screened: Milestone DVD, released 2005. English intertitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 110 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes

The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes. Stephen & Timothy Quay, 2006.

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Edition screened: Zeitgeist DVD, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Zeitgeist DVD includes an enjoyable 50-minute interview with the Quay brothers and co-writer Alan Passes.

Pi (π)

Pi (π). Darren Aronofsky, 1998.

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Edition screened: Artisan DVD, released 1999. English language. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Phantom of the Paradise

Phantom of the Paradise. Brian De Palma, 1974.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Phantasm

Phantasm. Don Coscarelli, 1979.

😸

Edition screened: Anchor Bay DVD, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.

Summary: InSinkEration of a ridiculous spider-bat.

Details: No longer content to sit in its little wooden box and ooze yellow slime, a severed finger transforms into a hairy red-eyed spider-bat and attacks. It is captured, crammed down a garbage disposal, re-emerges and attacks again. It is recaptured and returned to the garbage disposal, into which a large knife now is repeatedly thrust. That seems to do the trick. All this takes place 42:12-43:20, and concludes with a visitor inquiring,“What the Hell is going on?”

The Petrified Forest

The Petrified Forest. Archie Mayo, 1936.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Warner Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Classics Blu-ray set, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 82 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Le Petit Soldat

Le Petit Soldat (The Little Soldier). Jean-Luc Godard, 1963.

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Edition screened: Fox Lorber DVD, released 2001. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

The Perv Parlor

The Perv Parlor. Josh Collins, 2003.

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Edition screened: Eclectic DVD, released 2003. English language. Runtime approximately 68 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Eclectic Distribution DVD also includes Frat Shack Shakedown, a 55-minute montage of music clips and stop-action animation.

Performance

Performance. Donald Cammell, 1970.

😿

Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 105 minutes.

Summary: Insect death.

Details: Beginning at 1:02:38, we see a 4-second close-up of a fly on its back dying.

Peppermint Frappé

Peppermint Frappé. Carlos Saura, 1967.
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Edition screened: Home Vision VHS, released 2000. Spanish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence toward animals.

An excellent film, dedicated to Luis Buñuel and making clever use of that director’s fetish themes and male characterizations. Geraldine Chaplin plays dual roles of female transformation à la Vertigo.

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. Tim Burton, 1985.

😸

Edition screened: Warner DVD, released 2000. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Pauline at the Beach

Pauline at the Beach: Comedies and Proverbs #3/6 (Pauline à la plage). Éric Rohmer, 1983.

😸

Edition screened: Blu-ray included in Potemkine box set Coffret Éric Rohmer, l’intégrale released 2013. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 94 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Patriotism

Patriotism (Yûkoku/The Rite of Love and Death). Yukio Mishima and Masaki Dômoto, 1966.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion DVD #433, released 2008. Japanese language with English intertitles. Runtime approximately 29 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Criterion DVD also offers a slighter shorter version with Japanese intertitles, several interview clips with Yukio Mishima, and a making-of documentary.

The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer)

The Passion of Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc’s lidelse og Død). Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928.

😸

Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #50, released 2012. Danish intertitles with English subtitles, no dialogue track. Runtime at 20 frames/second approximately 96 minutes. Runtime at 24 frames/second approximately 80 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence toward animals.

The Passion of Joan of Arc is one of the sublime statements of sophisticated and elegant filmmaking. This Masters of Cinema Blu-ray edition contains the most complete and well-restored version of the film available, along with several options for musical accompaniment, viewing at two historical frame rates, and the alternate “Lo Duca” version (1951, 77 minutes).

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